Destroy All Guardians

From GoBots Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Challenge of the GoBots ep 47
(Broadcast Order)
Challenge of the GoBots ep 47
(Story Order)
DestroyAllGuardians28TurboIchigar.jpg
"Destroy All Guardians"
Production code 0142-8550
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Airdate November 19, 1985
Written by Don Glut
Animation studio Wang Film Productions

An '80s cartoon show visits Japan. You can guess the rest.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

DestroyAllGuardians16MutationRay.jpg

Scooter, Nick and A.J. investigate a gas seepage on Earth. Though scan reveal the gas is safe it knocks the humans out, so Scooter takes them back on the Command Center and contacts Leader-1. The Guardians are on assignment at a UNECOM research base in Japan, where Doctor Hyashi is making huge strides in genetic cloning, showing her recreated dinosaurs - kept in suspended animation - to Leader-1, Turbo and Matt. They are interrupted by her colleague Doctor Eiji Tsuburaya, who has invented a device to enlarge and modify organic life as living weapons. Hayashi chastises him, believing his invention could endanger the world and immediately suspends him from the base's research staff. He is furious and feels dishonoured for being treated this way in front of the GoBots, swearing revenge. News of this soon reaches Cy-Kill, Crasher, Cop-Tur and Dr. Go in Roguestar above, and the Renegades realise how useful his skills could be to them. Back in Japan Tsuburaya decides to prove his device by using it on the three dinosaurs. A.J. and Nick reawaken after being knocked out for 8 hours, 3 minutes and 4.8 seconds just as the beasts break loose. Tsuburaya names them Jerigan, Kaitudan and Ichigar. They soon break free and Ichigar begins menacing the Guardians, proving immune to Turbo's blasters before batting him out of the air with its' tail. It then fires a bolt of energy from its' mouth to damage Leader-1 before knocking him out of the sky too.

DestroyAllGuardians34ZodIchigar.jpg

The Renegades then arrive and Astrobeam Zod in to face Ichigar but the pair rapidly stalemate - to Tsuburaya's delight. However, Cy-Kill is able to mesmerise Ichigar and has Dr. Go beam them away before the Guardians can intercede - also taking Tsuburaya with them. He plans to make the scientist create another mutation ray device while Jerigan and Kaitudan are captured. The scientist refuses to help but Dr. Go paralyses him. Kaitudan meanwhile is found by a part of Scouts while Jerigan attacks a fishing boat; at the wrecked UNECOM base Matt finds a canister of the gas and suggests using it to get the monsters to sleep when Scooter picks up the distress calls. Leader-1 and Turbo head to the mountains to face Kaitudan, but The monster knocks Turbo out with its' eye-beams. Meanwhile Scooter takes the Command Center and the humans out to sea. They succeed in drawing Jerigan's attention away from the boat but are shot down and plunge into the sea.

DestroyAllGuardians68KaitudanBridge.jpg

Jerigan is about to finish them off when it is Astrobeamed away, with Kaitudan following soon after. All three are kept in a cavern by Cy-Kill. Dr. Go meanwhile is forcing Tsuburaya to build a new device; instead the scientist builds a light beam and blinds the Renegade and then guards Tank and Geeper-Creeper before escaping in a jet fighter, planning to undo the damage he has done. Cy-Kill meanwhile unleashes the monsters on Tokyo, causing devastation. The Guardians meanwhile have equipped with a concentrated version of the gas provided by Doctor Hyashi but Kaitudan knocks out the Command Center's communications as Leader-1 calls GoBotron for back-up. Thankfully the message got though - Hans-Cuff and Blaster arrive, together with the Power Suits. They form Courageous, but while the Power Warrior evens the odds the monsters keep coming. Tsuburaya then arrives and takes the gas canister from Matt. He is able to all three before he is overcome by the gas himself. The Renegades arrive to find Courageous ready and immediately retreat. On recovery, Tsuburaya reverses the mututations and returns the trio to normal dinosaurs. He is even likely to resume his research with Hyashi, though Matt notes it's not nice to fool with mother nature as a cloned dinosaur roars in agreement.

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Guardians Renegades Humans Others

Notes[edit | edit source]

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

DestroyAllGuardians82CourageousIchigar.jpg
  • The combined form of Courageous and the Power Suits is again referred to here as the Power Ship Courageous and the Power Warrior, as per "Return to GoBotron".
  • Gadgets and Powers:
    • GoBots have internal repair circuits.
    • Cy-Kill can generate mesmerizing mind control rays that control the simple brains of dinosaurs.
    • Dr. Go captures Doctor Tsuburaya in a paralysis ray from his hands.
    • Turbo can emit a smokescreen from his exhaust ports.

Continuity errors[edit | edit source]

  • UNECOM are a mix of NASA, the army and the air force, boosted by Guardian tech. They have space stations. Yet they can't even equip the kids with environment suits when they know they're investigating a strange gas. The gas is never explained either.
  • Roguestar is used like Thruster usually is here, just zipping around Earth's stratosphere.
  • While Tsuburaya overreacts Hyashi's behaviour hardly helps. She knows he's a man of honour but decides to publicly fire him in front of the visiting Guardians at the drop of a hat.
DestroyAllGuardians63Jet.jpg
  • How does Cy-Kill know Ichigar's name? No one was around when Tsuburaya was monologuing.
  • On three separate occasions this episode, Cy-Kill interrupts the monsters from destroying the Guardians so that he can...have them destroy all Guardians? They probably WOULD have if he stopped interfering!
  • Why does Roguestar have a human-scale, fully operational fighter jet in its hangar bay?
  • It's implied Tsuburaya gets his job back at the end because he saw the error of his actions, despite Tokyo being devastated.
  • It's hard to accept the moral of the episode as "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature", Matt, when you're literally standing in Jurassic Park.

Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]

  • At the end of the battle, Turbo's close-up puts him in the P-4 Power Suit instead of the P-1.
  • The Tyrannosaurus Rex is inaccurately shown with 3 fingers and a thumb on each hand. In reality, it only had two. So it should’ve been called a Megalosaurus, known to have 3 or 4 fingers on each hand.
  • The Elasmosaurus looked like a Sauropod (e.g. Brontosaurus). The real Elasmosaurus had flippers for feet. So it Should’ve been called a Brontosaurus.

Real-world references[edit | edit source]

DestroyAllGuardians57Monsters.jpg
  • As is his wont, writer Don Glut slides in references to his other interests - in this case Japanese kaiju films.
    • The episode's name is derived from 1968's Destroy All Monsters
    • Ichida is based on Godzilla, Kaitudan on Rodan and Jerigan on Baragon.
      • Hannah-Barbara ironically previously made a licensed cartoon based on the actual Godzilla in 1978.
        • Zod uses a modified version roar of Godzilla of said cartoon too
    • Eiji Tsuburaya is named for Eiji Tsuburaya, special effects wizard for the Godzilla series between 1954 and 1968; Destroy All Monsters was his last Godzilla work before his death.
    • For Hasyashi take your pick, as her given name is never mentioned - Hiroshi Hayashi was in the first film, Yutaka Hayashi was in Godzilla vs. Megalon and Norio Hayashi was producer of the then-recent The Return of Godzilla.
    • He also likes dinosaurs, so you've got appearances by an Elasmosaurus, a Pteranodon and - of course - a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
  • The Scout Association of Japan uniforms aren't miles off either.

Home video releases[edit | edit source]

DVD

2015Challenge of the GoBots — The Series, Volume Two (Warner Archive Collection)

Footnotes[edit | edit source]